Miracle, Overdue
by Whispers of Redemption
Summary: Post-series. Grown up, graduated from Ohtori and in a rather unconventional relationship, Juri Arisugawa wakes from a nightmare one night and takes a chance to reflect. Juri x Shiori x Miki.


It was in the middle of the night that Juri Arisugawa bolted staight up in her bed with a gasp, eyes wide and covered in sweat. She slowly brought a hand to her forehead, closing her eyes again as she allowed herself to take a couple of deep breaths.

Another nightmare about Ohtori Academy.

She sighed, giving herself a few moments to decide on whether she would immediately attempt sleep again or get some fresh air before doing so. She decided on the latter, slowly worming her way out of bed.

Not an easy thing to do when you're in between two people, but Juri managed to do it.

Juri stood, looking back over to the two people she had grown accustomed to sharing her bed with. One of them, her best friend from childhood and first love, the person she had such a strained relationship with for the longest time. The other, a gentle boy she had originally met through Ohtori Academy's fencing team and soon became friends with when they ended up on the Student Council together.

She tried to will away bad memories from the past-memories of Akio Ohtori's twisted game of revolution-and instead bring her focus back to Shiori and Miki, watching them rest peacefully. The lack of Juri in the middle of them was not unnoticed, even as they continued to slumber. They both moved closer to the center of the bed, Shiori pulling Miki closer to her in her sleep. And closer still, until raspberry hair overlapped a little with blue locks.

_Blue raspberry._

Juri snorted. What a childish thought.

She watched them for a few more moments, then walked to the balcony of their apartment for that fresh air she had wanted. Their apartment was high up, and their balcony gave them a perfect view of the city they had decided to settle in. Subconsciously, Juri's hand reached up to grasp a locket that wasn't there. Quietly, she cursed to herself.

Why was she dwelling on this now?

She sighed again. This was impossible, annoying. As she stood there, increasingly getting annoyed, a thought came to her head.

_What would Tenjou say?_

A small, somewhat stiff smile graced Juri's lips. Ah, yes. Utena Tenjou, the one who escaped Ohtori's clutches and disappeared from his world. Everyone seemed to be able to heal and move on once she disappeared. Once both she _and_ the Rose Bride disappeared.

A miracle?

Her younger self would bitterly laugh at such an idea, but the Juri Arisugawa of current wasn't so sure. A lot had happened.

She never imagined that she and Shiori would even be able to fix their friendship as well as she did, and she certainly never expected Shiori to actually return her feelings. Being able to heal and move on allowed them to be more open than each other. Through being more open and talking to one another-no matter what time of day it was-they realized how much they could have prevented. Eventually, they were able to laugh about it.

And eventually, they got together.

She never expected for things to take another pleasant turn. Miki had always just been a friend, a friend who managed to get closer to not only herself, but Shiori as their romance was blooming. Eventually, Juri had been hit with a horrifying conclusion: she loved both of them. Wanting to avoid a repeat of the past, Juri had talked to Shiori about it. Shiori had confessed that she loved both Juri and Miki. When they finally decided to talk to Miki about it, he admitted to harboring feelings for both of them as well. From there, their unconventional-but very happy, despite some moments here and there-relationship started.

A pleasant outcome. But was it really a miracle?

"Juri?"

Upon hearing Miki's voice, Juri turned to face him. She was greeted by not only him, but Shiori as well. She smiled upon noticing they were holding hands, something she couldn't help but find adorable. Shiori was leaning her head against Miki's shoulder, rubbing a hand against a tired eye. She was the one who spoke up next.

"Is everything all right?"

Juri smiled a little more, as if to reassure them. "Yes, everything's fine. I simply had another one of those nightmares."

Miki frowned. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Juri gave them a quick shake of the head.

"No, I think I'm all right this time. Let's go back to bed, shall we?"

Both of them managed to smile before turning and heading back to their bed ahead of Juri. She gave one last side glance to the overview of the city.

Perhaps it was a miracle.

Juri chuckled. If she ever met Utena Tenjou again, she might have to thank her.


End file.
